Cuyahoga Valley National Park names new superintendent

Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Brecksville has a new superintendent.The National Park Service announced that Craig Kenkel, currently superintendent at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in California, is taking over the top job at Cuyahoga Valley National Park this spring. A specific start date has yet to be determined, according to a park service news release.Kenkel succeeds Stanley Austin, who became the National Park Service's Southeast regional director last July.Michael T. Reynolds, Midwest regional director of the park service, said in the release that Kenkel's “leadership experience and ability to build strong relationships and accomplish major initiatives with partner groups will serve well to meet the needs of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.”“He will continue to elevate the park within the Cleveland-Akron metropolis as a major urban national park, will engage new communities, and will lead an effort to build diversity, relevancy and inclusion,” Reynolds said.Kenkel said in the release that Cuyahoga Valley National Park “is already a model 21st century park,” and that since first visiting it in 1992, it has been among his 10 favorite parks.Kenkel began his National Park Service career in 1983 as an architecture student intern at the Denver Service Center. He began working full time there as a historical architect in 1985, and project work later took him to eight national parks, including Yosemite, Sequoia and Petrified Forest.From 1992 to 2005, Kenkel worked at the Midwest regional office, moving from regional historical architect to regional chief of cultural resources. The news release stated that his accomplishments there included leading the team that designed the visitor experience for Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.In 2005, Kenkel became chief of cultural resources at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, his first park-specific assignment, and served for a year as acting deputy superintendent before becoming superintendent at San Francisco Maritime in 2010.Kenkel is a native of Harlan, Iowa. He received his bachelor of arts in architecture degree from Iowa State University in 1985.The 33,000-acre Cuyahoga Valley National Park preserves rural landscapes along the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland and Akron.

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